When the big flu pandemic hit Rockford 95 years ago

Tuesday

Jan 15, 2013 at 4:05 PM

For all the talk and media coverage of the current flu epidemic, the outbreak is trivial on the whole compared with the great flu pandemic of 1918.

In the local history “Rockford — Big Town/Little City,” we see how quickly that plague in the final days of World War I took its toll in this community, especially at Camp Grant (above), the sprawling Army training facility just south of the city:

Soldiers and sailors returning to the United States from Europe brought with them the Spanish flu, so-called for its nation of origin. In early September 1918, the bug spread ...

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Pat Cunningham

For all the talk and media coverage of the current flu epidemic, the outbreak is trivial on the whole compared with the great flu pandemic of 1918.

In the local history “Rockford — Big Town/Little City,” we see how quickly that plague in the final days of World War I took its toll in this community, especially at Camp Grant (above), the sprawling Army training facility just south of the city:

Soldiers and sailors returning to the United States from Europe brought with them the Spanish flu, so-called for its nation of origin. In early September 1918, the bug spread ...